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Thursday, August 5, 2010

My baby boy recently turned 18 months. How did that happen? Where does the time go? It's amazing how fast it flies by. When he turned one I wanted to make him something special that he might hopefully appreciate when he is older. Since he is our prince, I decided he needed a crown. A fun, grungy, yet regal crown on a cool piece of wood, for our little man. It's been done for 6 months now and I finally took some good pictures of it, so I wanted to share it with you.

The crown was cut from a piece of cardboard, which I tore, painted, and stamped on. The piece on the center of the crown is a doorbell plate which I found in Oregon, at an architectural salvage yard, a few years back. I didn't touch it, the black paint was already perfectly "distressed" when I bought it!

I doodled all over the background in pencil, and wrote little messages to him. On the bottom left it says "Never lose your sense of wonder". When my sister was on a trip to NYC she bought Elias a gift from a store called"Sense of Wonder" and I kept a sticker off the package knowing I would use it for something one day...and now here it is!

I wrote out "prince" on one of those cheap label makers and punched holes in it before nailing it to the wood.

I antiqued a new #1 metal house number by sanding it and spattering it with paint, then I nailed it on.

My son was helping me take pictures of his crown.

After carrying it around a bit, I guess he needed a rest!

Oh, and I played around with my blog background. I'd love to know what you think.

I actually teared up when I saw these pictures! First of all, this is an AMAZING piece - my favorite colors, love the grunge of the cardboard and the metal accents (just got one of those door things at a vendor fair a couple of days ago!) and your personal words are just wonderful. And those pictures are beautiful too - time does go by so fast! I thought Kendra had aged a year when I got home . . . Kristin xo

Hi again!I have totally been there - and yes, we do get it - we also get why we love rusty things and found objects . . . and your piece will be a lot more memorable than any toy that will be broken a few months later - this will be with him forever! Oh, and I thought of you when I took my picture on a rusty ceiling tin - funny that you mentioned it, xo

LOL! I sure did! I admired the door. And I forgot to tell you that I never even thought of that face as being the "watch face!" You are more insightful than I am - but now I love the idea!!! Have a good one, xo

ESt. This is a beautiful piece. It made me cry, because it is so unique and special he (and you) will look back and treasure it...it is so personal and amazing. "Good on You" as they say ('they' who I dont know but I hear it here all the time) for putting so much of yourself and time into it!! luv LisaP.

Well my dear, you already know my feelings for this piece. It's beautiful, meaningful and loving and thoughtful and so much more. I love it and I know the E will love it too. Much better then a bag of rubber balls ;)

About Me

Hi. I am Esther Orloff, a mixed media artist in SoCal. I love to use texture in my paintings, eat healthy delicious food, and spend time in nature with a camera in hand.. and coffee in the other. I believe that art is important and can be a powerful messenger, and that we should all encourage one another in this life.